1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to shelving and more particularly to a shelving unit adapted for use with a wire rack.
2. Background of the Invention
Wire racks have been a staple of the building industry as a quick and easy shelving device and are fully exemplified in several US patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,593; 4,781,349; 5,148,928; and 5,346,077. Such racks have been found to have many disadvantages including the fact that because they are formed from spaced-apart wires, they leave imprints on items placed on the rack in contact with the wires. This can be especially severe when the protective coating on the wires is broken and leaves metal or rust stains on stored clothing and other valuable items. Although paper, cardboard, and heavier flexible vinyl, plastic, or rubber materials can be laid on the wire racks to prevent direct contact of stored items with the support wires, this presents a further problem in that such materials may pull forward when a selected item is removed from the rack causing the contents of the entire shelf to fall from the shelf doing possible damage to the stored items and causing possible injury to the nearby individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,302 (Putnam) addresses the slippage problem by using a sufficiently flexible and soft material so that the wire cross members made a slight impression or indentation into the covering material. The inventor realizes that this is insufficient to prevent slippage and thus further treats the underside of his pad with an adhesive that adheres to the vinyl coating used with wire shelving. Unfortunately the use of tackifying (sticky or adhesive-like) agents on the bottom of the pad bring with it additional problems. First much of the tackifying agent will be exposed to the air in the area between the wire cross members and will tend to attract and accumulate dirt and dust. Second, the tackifying agent may eventually dry and produce a bond between the soft pad and the cross-member wires. Since the pad is of soft material, it is likely to tear and pull away from the wires leaving unsightly chunks of material attached to the wire-cross members when one attempts to move or remove the liner. Even if the pad material does not become glued to the cross-members wires, some of the adhesive is likely to remain behind leaving the wires sticky and gummy. Where the wires are sticky and gummy or have pieces of pad attached or both, they become virtually impossible to conveniently clean and restore to their original state.
Both U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,302 and 5,538,147 address the slippage problem but in a less than satisfactory manner. The 5,538,147 patent uses a thin flexible sheet material supplied in rolls. The sheet material is formed with perforations to separate individual covers from a roll. Each cover is formed with extending tabs having notches that interlock with the wire, cross members to prevent slippage. As noted in the 5,697,302 patent, such covers simply do not provide adequate support on a wire-frame shelf. They are easily damaged and require frequent replacement. It is further noted that because the material is thin and flexible, the tabs are unlikely to have much effect in preventing movement of the covers. If the cover is produced from thicker material, manipulation of the tabs becomes a problem. Less flexible material is likely to crack and break when the tab is bent into position. Further the manipulation of the tab between the wire cross members and their subsequent movement to the interlock position is likely to be quite difficult for thicker cover materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,077 uses a spring clip that engages a front rod of the wire rack and also engages a clear plastic panel. The spring clip allows rotating about the front wire rack rod cross member. This presents the problem of wear and possible chipping of the paint on the wire rack member during installation and use of the panel. In another embodiment, the rotating clip is eliminated in favor of a downward extending tab. Such a tab still allows for some movement since the tab will only stop the panel assembly from coming forward beyond the rod cross member. As the inventor recognizes, the panel can slide to a limited degree and it is possible to dislodge the clips from the panel presumably in either embodiment.
Generally it is noted that when any of the prior art devices must be attached to the wire rack, it may be inconvenient to manipulate the attaching devices on lower shelving, especially securing devices that must be manipulated from below the wire rack. This can be especially troublesome for individuals with arthritic and other joint conditions who cannot stoop or bend to reach below lower level racks or manipulate the intricate securing devices. Finally it is noted that none of the prior art devices have the ability to freshen the air, linens and clothing and/or repel moths and other insects.
To overcome these problems, it is an object of the current invention to provide shelving for a wire rack that easily locks into place with a minimum of manipulation.
It is an object of the current invention to prevent unsightly indentations (grid marks) on items such as clothing stored on wire racks.
It is an object of the current invention to prevent rust, mildew, paint chips and other hard to remove materials from staining materials placed on the wire racks.
It is an object of the current invention to prevent slippage of covering materials placed on the wire rack and resulting damage to stored items or nearby individuals when the contents of the entire shelf fall when items are removed from prior art covering materials.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an air freshener.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a moth repellant without the use of toxic chemicals.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shelf cover that is simple in construction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a shelving cover that is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wire rack cover or liner that has a long life of useful service.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cover or liner that is easy to maintain.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a cover or liner that fits and interlocks with most wire rack shelving assemblies.
To solve these problems and meet these objects, the present invention of a shelf unit has a substantially flat elongated shelf member that is placed in contact with and positioned so that the lengthwise dimension of the shelf member is substantially transverse to the spaced-apart support wires of a wire shelf rack. The invention features one or more cleats that are attached to the under surface of the elongated shelf member and are oriented in a transverse direction to the lengthwise dimension of the shelf member, that is, oriented so that the lengthwise dimension of the cleat is parallel to the support wires when the lengthwise dimension of the shelf member is positioned at right angles to the support wires. The cleats have a width to fit between a pair of two adjacent spaced-apart support wires of the shelf rack. The cleats extend downward between the spaced-apart support wires until the shelf member contacts the top of the support wires. The cleats contact one or more of the wire rack support rods which serve as a stop and prevent the shelf unit from coming sufficiently forward to fall from the wire shelf rack. The cleats also prevent side ways motion of the shelf unit and because of their length also prevent twisting rotational motion of the shelf unit.
When more than one cleat is used, as is typically the case, the cleats are spaced apart from each other so that they align with and project downward through pairs of adjacent rack support wires. This has the further advantage of minimizing any twisting motion of the shelf unit. The cleats can be formed as two or more spaced apart cleat sections to accommodate a center support rod between the intervening space between two cleat sections. This has the advantage of locking the shelf unit to the support rod so that it cannot move in either a forward or rearward direction. Preferably the invention features cleats that engage a pair of adjacent support wires in a force fit so as to take advantage of the frictional engagement between the support wires and the sides of the cleat. This frictional engagement has the advantage of preventing forward and backward movement of the shelf unit and virtually eliminates any twisting or sideways motion of the shelf unit. The use of additional spaced apart cleats along the length of the shelf member that also engage adjacent support wires further increases the frictional forces available to prevent movement of the shelf unit with respect to the wire rack. Even if the frictional feature of the invention should fail, the shelf unit is still prevented from falling from the wire rack by one of more of the support rods that act as a stop to forward movement when they engage the ends of the cleats.
The essentially flat elongated shelf member of the shelf unit can be formed in a wide variety of ways. It can be formed from a single piece of material or from two or more slats in spaced apart or contacting relation. When slats are used to form the flat elongated member, the cleats not only project downward between the rack support wires to prevent lateral, forward and reverse, and twisting movement, they also maintain the slats in fixed relation with each other, that is, in spaced apart relation or in contact with each other. When the slats are in a contacting relation, various joint configurations such as butt, ship-lap, and tongue and groove slat joint edges may be used to afford good contact of the mating slat sides.
The cleats and flat elongated member can be formed from a wide variety of materials including, for example, wood, metal, plastic, laminates, veneers, particle board, corrugated board. The cleats and flat elongated member can be formed from separate pieces or as an integrated piece such as by molding or pressing. When the cleats and elongated member are separate pieces they are joined with any suitable fastener including staples, brads, nails, screws, adhesives, glues, dovetail joints and combinations thereof. At least a portion of the cleats or cleat sections and elongated shelf members or slats can be treated with air freshening and/or insect repelling compositions and materials. Preferably at least a portion of the shelf member or cleats are formed from aromatic cedar wood to provide both an air freshening aroma for clothing and linens while providing insect repelling capabilities.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following disclosure in which one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It is contemplated that variations in procedures, structural features and arrangement of parts may appear to a person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.